DJ LeMahieu didn’t play in the postseason and said he’s still unclear whether he will need surgery to repair the fracture in his big toe that plagued him for much of the second half.
“It was a chronic, gradual thing,’’ LeMahieu said after the Yankees were swept out of the ALCS with a 6-5 loss to the Astros in The Bronx.
LeMahieu called the injury “complicated” and the potential surgery “tricky.”
“That’s why I’m trying to avoid it if possible,’’ LeMahieu said of the procedure. “I’d like to not do the surgery, but I also don’t want this to happen again.”
He called the injury “frustrating.”
“It’s been a frustrating last month and a half, not being out there,’’ LeMahieu said. “I pride myself on playing through things and being out there and being available.”
Aaron Boone lamented the loss of LeMahieu, as well as Andrew Benintendi, who missed the playoffs with a fractured hook of the hamate bone in his right wrist and said Sunday they were targeting a potential return for the World Series.
“I think there were a few really impactful people that weren’t able to play in this postseason that would have potentially been a real difference,” Boone said of the two veteran bats, as well as Matt Carpenter, who was limited after returning from a fractured left foot. “I do feel like we have a lot of those people in that room. We got thinned out a little bit by injury. Again, everyone’s got to deal with that. But I think there were some significant [losses].”
Aaron Judge will be joined in free agency by several other Yankees, including Benintendi and Carpenter.
Carpenter, who had a career revival after signing with the Yankees after his release from his minor league deal with the Rangers, said he intends to keep playing and would welcome a return to The Bronx.
Benintendi, who arrived in a midseason trade from the Royals, said he will listen to all offers.
Another free agent, Jameson Taillon — who was scheduled to pitch Game 5 if the Yankees had won Sunday — also would like to come back, although there’s no guarantee any of them fit into the Yankees’ plans for 2023.
Josh Donaldson’s nightmare postseason continued right from the start Sunday night.
The third baseman was booed by The Bronx crowd during pregame introductions and then whiffed in three of his four at-bats.
Asked before the game if he considered moving Donaldson down in the lineup, Boone said he didn’t.
“I dropped him a little bit [Saturday],’’ Boone said. “Look, we’ve struggled as a group. We’ve all struggled. [Donaldson’s] been getting on base. He’s kind of born the brunt of [the offense’s struggles] for some reason. But we’ve got to get it going as a group.”
After reaching base six times in the first two games of the ALDS against Cleveland, Donaldson entered Sunday 3-for-21 with 13 strikeouts in his next six games.
And he’s become the fans’ newest favorite target, with Aaron Hicks out for the rest of the year with a left knee injury and Joey Gallo a Dodger.
Harrison Bader homered again Sunday, his fifth homer in nine postseason games this year. He hit five home runs during the regular season.
— Additional reporting by Greg Joyce